2004.01.31
Tariana Grammar Notes
bOING bOING today pointed me to an interview with linguist Alexandra Aikhenvald, found here. The interview deals with languages that are fading into obscurity and why maintaining at least a record of these languages is important.
Of interest to me, however, in gathering ideas for building a language was this note on the grammar of Tariana.
What’s your favourite example of a big difference between languages?
In English I can tell my son: “Today I talked to Adrian”, and he won’t ask: “How do you know you talked to Adrian?” But in some languages, including Tariana, you always have to put a little suffix onto your verb saying how you know something - we call it “evidentiality”. I would have to say: “I talked to Adrian, non-visual,” if we had talked on the phone. And if my son told someone else, he would say: “She talked to Adrian, visual, reported.” In that language, if you don’t say how you know things, they think you are a liar.
It sounds like some method to employ with the language I’m planning for the Lekthis people.
Best quote in the interview, though, which has nothing to do with actual linguistics is this at the very end when Ms. Aikhenvald is asked what language she dreams in: “If I dream of Tariana, they speak Tariana. Sometimes I dream of Estonia, and they speak Estonian. In my nightmares, people speak to me and I understand, but I can’t answer…”
Categorized: worldbuilding
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